Film #100 of The December Project

I decided to watch something extra special for my 100th (and last) film of the December Project to cap the insanity off on a high note. The thing about watching Say Anything is that the moment Lloyd Dobler becomes your favorite person, life is pretty much all downhill from there. This happened for me seven years and four months ago. I remember the day like it was yesterday. The only bright spots going forward are when you get to revisit the film in which he lives (which I did every day for about a month straight after watching it for the first time).

Lloyd is one of my all time favorite movie characters because…

John Cusack should have owned the eighties. Not exactly a brat-packer he was nevertheless in some of the decades best teenage friendly movies. "Sixteen Candles","The Sure Thing","Stand By Me" and "Say Anything" are all on best-of lists from even the harshest of critics.
John Cusack for me however will always be Martin Blank but his Lloyd Dobler character stands out as one of the most memorable of the eighties. That boom-box above the head shot on the poster says it all as he portrayed a young guy who wore his heart on his sleeve. A romantic comedy that would show us what Cusack could really do after mostly support roles in earlier films, this remains his most iconic role. Cusack's…

“Look at those eyes!”

That’s the way Lloyd Dobler attests constantly the happening of his blooming passion for Diane Court. The simple fascination of the young man for the girl who's the brains of his graduating class seems plausible for anyone because... there’s a moment in life you just can’t quit them eyes. And it’s this simplicity that sets the moods that permeates the whole movie.

The key for the film lies in its plainness and how it can move in spite of its story, which is not exactly predictable, but somehow already happened thousands of times in past and certainly will repeat itself another thousand of times again. Transposing feelings and yearnings of an entire generation in his first…

100 Movies Challenge #40

I've suspected this for a long time, but now I know it to be true.

I'm a monster with no feelings.

Lloyd Dobbler is irritatingly perfect. He has no flaws, except talking too much when he's nervous, which is more adorable than anything. He's sensitive, sweet, charming, confident, a romantic. He's so dull.

I think Cameron Crowe and I just do not get on. I don't even like Almost Famous. I can see the machinations whirring in a way that specifically frustrates me. I don't know why. It's totally my fault. His writing is good, the acting is fine, the direction is good. But I can sense the calculations in the storytelling and I just don't…

John Cusack should have owned the eighties. Not exactly a brat-packer he was nevertheless in some of the decades best teenage friendly movies. "Sixteen Candles","The Sure Thing","Stand By Me" and "Say Anything" are all on best-of lists from even the harshest of critics.
John Cusack for me however will always be Martin Blank but his Lloyd Dobler character stands out as one of the most memorable of the eighties. That boom-box above the head shot on the poster says it all as he portrayed a young guy who wore his heart on his sleeve. A romantic comedy that would show us what Cusack could really do after mostly support roles in earlier films, this remains his most iconic role. Cusack's…

This is one of my all-time faves but I'm only now realizing (on my fifth viewing or so) that the father-daughter relationship takes up about half the movie and it's just as much about that as it is a love story, as it's always felt like a subplot to me (some say the love story is really the subplot, I wouldn't go that far. Also, from reading the trivia on the IMDB page, it turns out the idea originated from producer James L. Brooks and had to do with the father-daughter relationship, and that Lawrence Kasdan was originally supposed to direct it, I'd love to hear how it evolved from that to the movie it is now). Everything involving Dobler…